MayHem 2014
by Lee
We started arriving Wednesday. Chad before noon, me around 12.45, and Danger about 30 minutes later. Chris & Sonya (the Throttleboss's or TB's) stopped in route to WV at some Canadian Stealership to have that SXS Cadillac thing serviced and his wallet vacuumed out. We rode over to meet up with them at Ashland Resort around 3 PM. Two others of the Chris group had also arrived, Gary and Mrs Gary (The G's).
Mr & Mrs G weren't ready to go just yet so we left them behind and rode I/R 60ish, 70ish (I still like that trail), 91ish, circling back toward the steps.
Mr & Mrs Gary joined us there. We took our arrival afternoon ride to Serenity Point on the creeks. It was a beautiful day. We ended up at the cabin well before dark after logging 25 or so miles. Some ate, some showered, all drank. Flo and Jim (the Woodbutcher's or WB's) surprised us with a visit. Jim said they were buying HM permits. I think that's why I fell out of my chair. Karaoke night erupted complete with twirly dancing. Sonya had to be twirled.
Sometimes you just have to twirl!!
Thursday morning it was raining, and raining hard. We didn't know it then, but this was to last all day. It was bad enough I put the GrizzLee on the porch for provisioning. Dave was having a lack of voltage issue, so he siphoned some of Chad's canned ham juice into his battery. Surprising, the Police Interceptor Edition Grizzly was able to digest it. The Woodbutcher's and the Throttlebosse's showed up. We were only missing Punisher. Waiting until 10, we left for Pineville without him. It was raining of course. We took a more or less indirect route (but the fastest) to the entrance of Spider Creek. Danger preceded us at every turn from this point on.
Emerging onto the Pinnacle system at the connector, a sock was tied to the sign post (our signul) in hopes of alerting Punisher that we were indeed on the system. He knew we had plans to take only rights on our way to the trailhead. He knew we would ignore the rights for Mullens. He had joked me about that very thing. "You are going to have to take a couple of lefts" blah, blah, blah... He knew.
With little desire to stop much in the rain, we made the trailhead relatively quick. True to their word, the WB's did go Hatfield official. A first. The most memorable event of the trip for me. I never thought I'd live to see that. I WAS THERE! The trailhead was also one of the very few spots of sunshine we saw throughout the day. We rode into town, getting our fill of both Arby's and Exxon's products. Then it was back to the trailhead for the return run. The rain was coming down. Dave set a brisk pace back toward the connector. His thinking was why sit in the rain. Let's go. So we went.
Little things like picking a line, judging distance, depth perception and riding in general became kind of difficult. Google vision if you will. The downhill's were slick streams, leaving little doubt we were heading toward a creek, or something that would soon be a creek. There were moments but thankfully no incidents. We couldn't talk about it until we stopped at Vic Bishop Memorial Campsite, but I did see that the sock had been relocated on the post. Punisher was close. The sock went back in the box for future use. We stayed under the shelter for probably 45 minutes snacking, jawing, rehydrating as it were. It was still raining when we left. It had really set in.
I was riding sweep and wasn't all that surprised when Punisher pulled into line with us at Tiny's Corner, just in time for the creek run. On the other hand, the WB's looked surprised to see a SXS behind them where a the Blue Quad should be. I call it the Spot, Jim called it Wet Willie, but we all know that place on the creeks. Dave chose a poor line, the very one I would I have tried if I wasn't the sweeper. Rapid hand signaling brought us to a stop. Chad picked what turned out to be the right line.
After a final stop on the sandbar (and the opening of Chad's 3rd flask - my two were empty), we completed our ride to the cabin, our end destination for every day. We were a little under 80 miles for the day, except for Flo and Jim which ended up closer to 85. It was their biggest day ever. They were camping at Hilltop.
Insert party here.
When we saw Chris Friday morning he said it best. He said he didn't wake up - he come to. Now the time had come to wait for Roger. Our favorite pastime! Honestly he wasn't late. The second most surprising event of the trip. (haha) We had a plan for the day. In April I rode a new to me trail by not finding the trail I was looking for. That seems to be the way it happens. We would try to find that trail I was looking for from the other direction. I believe we had 10 machines and 15 people for today's ride.
Fully provisioned we departed the cabin heading for Soggy Bottom. Turning off by the gas pump you could see Thursday's rain had did it's usual work to the trail. Slow and easy we went toward the bottom. You have a few choices once down. Bear left to Water World, go right and up, or go straight. We took the latter route which turned out to be a tight very technical trail. I hadn't been through here in years. Twist, turn, gasp, repeat. I made it to the clearing at the end of the path to find myself alone. I shutdown the GrizzLee and listened. I couldn't hear a thing. I feared something untoward had happened. It had.
Punishment had been dealt to Chad by a rock strategically placed in an off camber decent. The main damage was to his pride, not his machine. We have all suffered this fate at one time or another.
Once rolling again in an upright orientation we made for the spillway, passing the end of that new to me trail (insert a smile on my face here), further expanding our knowledge of the area. We took our first break in Tolliver Lake. Actually in the lake according to my Delorme PN60. We were visited by another group having problems with tires. Since Roger is a specialist in this area, he explained to them how they needed to throw those 14" rims away and get 12's. Roger knows these things!!
We left the Spillway for Bramwell eventually reaching Pocahontas. We stuck with lefts this time running the outer parameter to T10. We lunched next to the
no gas station, enjoying a spread you could hardly believe sponsored by Mr & Mrs Gary. We watched as machine after machine pulled up with riders staring at the bags over the pump handles. Man did they look disappointed. Then we were back on 10 to continue taking lefts on Pocahontas, in route to Mike's Choice. We weren't all that far in before we discovered we were missing 4 riders. Danger, Roger, and Steve & Joyce were no where in sight or sound. I say no worries. They know where we are going. But did I?
We exited Poco onto Windmill Gap Road. I stopped our depleted group here, at the entrance to Mike's Choice; to wait.
After waiting "long enough" I figured they were ahead of us so we took off. We hadn't gone 1/2 a mile when I finally realized we were not on Mike's Choice. We were heading for Maybeury on old 52!! I've been going to WV for 12 years and have rode M/C countless times. How could I have done this?!?! We turned around and blasted up WMG to the real entrance of Mike's Choice.
I didn't see it, but Punisher did. A sock tied to a tree there. They were ahead of us after all. We took no prisoners as we played catch up. Not quite halfway through, we found them here. Roger baited Steve into a hole too deep for the Ranger. Roger said it felt good to be a Jack this time, having needed all the Jacks in the past due to his infamous tire history.
We completed the Choice and connected to IR 80. We left I/R at the boulder passing Wild Willie's and Jakes. We made it to the cabin just ahead of another downpour. It was maybe a 55 mile day.
Only one other noteworthy thing occurred. Somehow I let The Glass (plastic actually) slip through my fingers. It hit the porch, then a foot hit it. Like a soccer player foot. Scratch one plastic glass. Dave!! I need another one!
Another MayHem is in the books. It was a great ride and a great group of riders. I do want to single out Flo and Jim for a moment, hoping you two will join us again. It's seems obvious to me you enjoyed our style of riding. Well, except for maybe Flo regarding Mike's Choice. That I can understand.
See you peeps in the mountains next time!!
Subject: MayHem 2014 
Tue Apr 22, 2014 9:34 am
Thanks guys.